Stamford police sued for using excessive force

Jeff Morganteen

Updated 9:32 pm, Saturday, May 12, 2012

STAMFORD -- A lawsuit filed in at state Superior Court last week accuses four Stamford police officers of fracturing a 17-year-old's eye socket during an arrest more than two years ago, and further alleges the police department fostered an administrative culture that does little to investigate excessive force complaints.

Stamford city attorneys denied the allegations in the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday at state Superior Court in Stamford. The lawsuit alleges that on April 18, 2010, the officers assaulted a then-17-year-old named Jakheel Thompson-Frith during an arrest and following a brief foot chase.

The lawsuit claims Thompson-Frith was standing in front of an unoccupied house on Hope Street, holding what appeared to be a beer can, and fled on foot when the group of officers approached him, the lawsuit said. Two officers chased Thompson-Frith for about 700 feet before tackling him to the ground.

The lawsuit says an officer choked Thompson-Frith for "a substantial period of time" and then handcuffed him. Moments later, Thompson-Frith suffered a strong blow to his eye either from a flashlight, truncheon or some other hard object, the lawsuit alleged.

Thompson-Frith went to the hospital immediately after the incident. He was treated for a fractured left orbital socket and fractured left maxillary sinus, which also began hemorrhaging, according to the lawsuit. Thompson-Frith allegedly underwent a "long and extremely painful recovery" that left him with physical scars and emotional distress.

The lawsuit also accuses the officers involved in the arrest -- Kelly Connelly, William Garay, Jeff Krivinskas and Sgt. William McAuliffe -- of falsifying information in a police report. The lawsuit accuses the officers of violating Thompson-Frith's constitutional rights. City attorneys, who last week filed a petition to transfer the case to federal court, denied the lawsuit's claims.

"At this time, we have no information to suggest that the officers involved in this alleged police misconduct case acted inappropriately or unlawfully," Stamford Deputy Corporation Counsel Vikki Cooper said in an e-mail. "The City takes the allegations of excessive force very seriously, and we deny all claims made against the City and its officers."

"The complaint speaks for itself and it's going to have to work its way through the process now," Russell said.

The lawsuit names the City of Stamford as a defendant, arguing that municipal officials have allowed the police department to develop de facto policies that permit the use of physical force as a punishment, separate from making arrests or in the interest of public safety.

The lawsuit accuses the police department of setting up a civilian complaint system that allows direct supervisors to dispose of complaints themselves without an automatic, recorded referral to the Internal Affairs division.

"If someone wants to file a complaint with Internal Affairs, we would certainly honor and investigate that complaint," Fontneau said. "They also have that right to go before the police commission, which meets once a month."

Fontneau added: "Any investigations that come in -- if they merit discipline, discipline is enacted."

Fontneau said, based on a briefing on the incident report from April 2010, the injuries Thompson-Frith suffered were the result of him being apprehended and tackled to the ground. No complaint was filed with the department over the arrest, Fontneau said. The charges were handled in juvenile court, where proceedings are not open to the public.

The initial call that night came in as a burglary at a house for-sale, Fontneau said. Thompson-Frith fled when officers arrived, Fontneau said.

The legal action claims that the department has never disciplined, terminated or arrested a police officer for excessive force, an accusation that overlooks the suspension of Officer Gregory Zach two years ago. Following an internal investigation, Zach was suspended without pay for several months in 2010, almost a year after a female restaurant owner accused the patrol officer of punching her during an arrest before an Alive@Five concert in downtown Stamford.

"If that's accurate, then it's a single incident which doesn't change our contention, which is there are no serious consequences," Russell said.